Music for the Morning After
by screaming-poetically
Summary: She saved him, in every way a person could be saved. GWHG.


**Title:** Music for the Morning After  
**Pairing:** George/Hermione.  
**Rating:** FRT.  
**Word count:** 1, 401.  
**Warnings: **Spoilers for DH.  
**Prompt:** Put your iTunes on shuffle, and write a drabble based on each of the first ten songs that play.  
**Summary:** She saved him, in every way a person could be saved.  
**Disclaimer: **The names of all characters contained herein are the property of JK Rowling. No infringements of these copyrights are intended, and are used here without permission.

1. The Ice Is Getting Thinner – Death Cab for Cutie  
George won't come out of his room, despite the attempts of his friends and family to persuade him otherwise. Hermione watches this all with a heavy heart. She doesn't know what to do. She knows enough of his relationship with Fred to know that he feels like half of himself has been ripped away, but beyond that…

One day all of the Weasleys are out playing Quidditch, trying to stop themselves from drowning in grief, and instead of watching she goes up to see George. She should leave him alone, but for some reason, she can't help herself.

George is laying on Fred's bed, his face buried in a sweater that Mrs. Weasley had made, and Hermione sits next to him on the lumpy mattress. He tenses next to her, but she whispers to him softly as she rubs his back, and after that he relaxes. They stay like that for hours.

The next day, he comes out of his room.

2. Speed of Sound – Coldplay  
"How long before it gets better?" George asks Hermione one night as they sit in the kitchen over cups of hot chocolate.

"I don't know," she says honestly.

"I'm thinking of reopening the shop," he says shyly. At her shocked expression, he looks down, as if he is ashamed of his decision.

"No," she says, to reassure him. "That's great. That's…well, it's really great. I'm so glad." She smiles brightly at him.

He smiles back, but it doesn't reach his eyes. She misses that about him.

"Well, the thing is, Hermione, with Fred gone, I'm going to need some help around the shop, and I was wondering if you'd want to – if you're willing to – would you help me?"

She reaches across the table to cover his hand with her own, and she smiles again, softer this time. "Yes, George. Of course."

3. It Matters Now – Jonatha Brooke  
Hermione watches him as the weeks and months pass, and he's doing better, and she wonders why it took him being broken for her to realize how good he is.

The twins always annoyed her while they were in school, and she never really noticed them as separate people – it was always FredandGeorge. FredandGeorge were troublemakers and rule-breakers, but now it is George alone. George, who wears his heart on his sleeve and is far more moody, and has a rash of freckles across the bridge of his nose.

He looks up at her from where he's checking the inventory of Pygmy Puffs and smiles at her.

4. A Change Is Gonna Come – Sam Cooke  
George knows that the sharp pain from missing Fred has developed into a dull ache, and he knows that it's because of Hermione. He doesn't know, however, what he would have done without her these past months. Her help in the shop, her help in everything… She is truly an extraordinary witch, an extraordinary woman. He wonders why it has taken him so long to notice.

He goes to visit Fred's grave one day, and he talks to him.

"You sent her to me, didn't you? If you're doing this, please… Don't stop. She's extraordinary. I think she's saving me, somehow, in every way a person can be saved. You've done good here, Fred."

5. Let It Ride – Ryan Adams & The Cardinals  
For the first time since Fred's death, George experiments. He brings Hermione into the back of the shop and they slave over a cauldron. There's an explosion, and her face is blackened with soot. He laughs as he wipes it away tenderly with a cloth, and there's a moment where they look at each other and they know that there's something between them, even if they didn't intend to.

She sees his eyes light up as he smiles, and she smiles too, and they almost kiss. Almost.

The bell attached to the door of the shop rings and Verity's voice sings out, announcing that she's here, and George curses. Hermione backs away, feeling suddenly nervous and not knowing what is going to happen next.

6. The Cure for Pain – Jon Foreman  
Hermione is away on holiday with her parents, and so George closes up the shop and takes some time to think really hard. He knows that he wouldn't be where he is without her. She has saved him. And he thinks – he's actually pretty sure – that he's fallen in love with her.

It's quite unexpected. He really wishes Fred were here, so he could talk to him and have his twin give him some much-needed advice. He doesn't know what to do. He wants Hermione, more than anything, and he doesn't know anything for certain except that he loves her.

He thinks about what his life would be without her, and it's then that he knows what to do.

7. Districts and Quarters – Zveri  
…Which is, of course, exactly when Viktor Krum decides to come back into the picture. He comes from Russia to see Hermione (just to catch up, he says, but George knows and suspects different.) He's very rude to Viktor, and he gets into a fight with Hermione, and his mother is sore at him for a while because of it.

Viktor comes into the shop when Hermione is at the Burrow, guesses correctly why he is jealous and sore at him, and even though he's kind about it, George still knocks him one in the face. Viktor's kind about that too, and it's then that George figures he's a better man than he is. He apologizes for hitting him in the face, and they talk for a while over firewhisky before Viktor heads back to Russia (and, it turns out, his wife.)

8. Everything's Not Lost – Coldplay  
Hermione realizes that she loves George when he gets in a fight with her about Viktor Krum. As far as she can see, he hasn't the right to tell her who she can or cannot talk to. Despite that, she rather likes that he gets jealous over other men being with her, even if they are married.

When she finally decides to talk to George again, the first thing he does is kiss her, and she forgives him instantly. The next thing he does is tell her that she has saved him, and she decides that he has saved her too, although she cannot tell from what.

"When Fred died," he says, "I thought that I had died too. You taught me how to live again, Hermione. And I love you. I will always love you."

He pauses. "I know I'm not the type of guy you usually go for, and I haven't much to give you…"

Hermione embraces him. "You are everything I could ever want, George."

Life is for living, and neither of them wants to live it alone.

9. Tilt – Wild Sweet Orange  
They ease slowly into their new routine. She moves into the flat above Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. She cooks breakfast for them both, her toothbrush sits next to George's on the bathroom sink, and her clothes are next to his in the closet.

Despite that, nothing much has changed; she has been with him since the war ended, taking care of him and the shop. The only thing that has changed is that they are together in ways they hadn't been before, and he is now afraid of losing something he hadn't.

One night he spills inside of her, their lovemaking quiet but no less passionate, and he whispers afterward, "Marry me."

She runs her hands through his sandy red hair and replies, "Yes. A thousand times yes."

10. I'll Take Care of You – Dixie Chicks  
It isn't that people don't see it coming. Certainly they do. It's just that they don't know whether or not it will work. George and Hermione? They're complete opposites. The troublemaker and the bookworm…

Mrs. Weasley alone believes that things will end well. She remembers the way that people talked about Arthur and herself before their own wedding, saying that it would never work. And besides, Hermione and George are not the people that they were before the war.

She watches them dance at the wedding, and she sees the love in their eyes. She could think of no finer woman for her son. Everything, and of this she was certain, everything would be just fine.


End file.
